Artist Pick of the Week: Nujabes

Grab whatever drink is closest to you, now pour a little out for the fallen homie Jun Seba, aka Nujabes. Seba was a Japanese DJ/music producer who created timeless hip-hop beats. In 2010 he was involved in a tragic car accident and with that the world lost a legend. I read a thought the other day that said something to the affect of “When a scientist dies someone else will eventually discover what he would’ve, but when an artist dies so do all the ideas he would’ve created.”

Although his death was sudden and unexpected, we were luckily left plenty of music to vibe out and get into. He left behind five albums totaling 83 songs including two collaboration albums, four EPs and two mixtapes.

On to his music, Seba blends classical elements of jazz with hip-hop in a style that is unique to him. There’s gorgeous piano like on “Feather” and “Reflection Eternal” with the head nodding hip-hop backing that is ever present. If you prefer some guitar check out “Aruarian Dance” or some flute “Luv (Sic) Part 3” ft. Shing02 that’s part of his hexagonal series of Luv (Sic) songs. No matter what you press play on you’re going to get organic, urban beats with flowy lyrics and instrumentals.

While looking into some reviews for his second to last album, Modal Soul, I came across a quote that perfectly encapsulated the emotionality that Nujabes elicits and I couldn’t have put it better myself:

Modal Soul is perfect for those cold mornings, long drives by yourself, summertime walks in the forest, deep conversations in the kitchen with your mother, snuggles in bed with your lover, smoke sessions with some old friends, like the type of friends you don’t even have to say anything to and they know what you mean.

Luckily someone has taken the time to upload all of his music to SoundCloud for our streaming pleasure. Check all of his music here and his albums below.